Counterfeiting and tampering of labels cost product marketers and manufacturers billions of dollars each year in lost income and lost customers. With the proliferation of computer technology, generating labels that resemble the genuine item has become easier. For example, a scanner may be utilized to scan a high-resolution image of a genuine label which can then be reproduced repeatedly at a minimum cost. Also, coupons may be scanned, modified (e.g., to have a higher value), repeatedly printed, and redeemed.
Various technologies have been utilized to stop the flood of counterfeiting and tampering in the recent years. One way labels have been secured is by incorporation of bar codes. Bar codes are generally machine-readable code that is printed on a label. Using a bar code scanner, the label with a bar code may be quickly read and authenticated. One problem with current bar coded labels is that an identical label may be used on various items.
Another current solution is to have the scanned bar code examined against secure data stored in a database (e.g., a point of sale (POS) system). This solution, however, requires incorporation of up-to-date data from a marketer (or manufacturer) and store. Such a solution requires timely and close cooperation of multiple entities. Also, such a solution limits its implementation flexibility and may not always be feasible.
These technologies, however, share a common disadvantage; namely, the labels scanned are physically identical for a given product. Accordingly, even though the manufacturing process for creating the legitimate labels may be highly sophisticated, it generally does not take a counterfeiter much time to determine a way to create fake pass-offs. And, once a label is successfully copied a single time, it may be repeatedly reproduced (e.g., by building a master copy that is replicated at low cost). Even if a label is black-listed in a database after a given number of uses, there is no guarantee that the labels that are scanned first are actually the genuine labels.
Accordingly, the current solutions fail to provide labels that are relatively hard to copy and inexpensive to produce.